(As fwd-ed to the JTS Bible Department mailing list by Professor Alan Cooper.)

The event was of tremendous historic significance. It was of extraordinary halachic importance. It was of unbelievably exceptional uniqueness. And parts of it were gross.

The purpose of the evening was to maintain a kosher status for creatures that are in danger of losing it. With birds, the Torah lists twenty-four types of non-kosher birds, and all the rest are kosher. However, it is impossible to identify the listed birds with any certainty. Thus, we may only eat birds for which we possess a mesorah, a continuous tradition, that the species is kosher and has been eaten. With mammals, the situation might seem more sraightforward; the Torah states that for a mammal to be kosher, it must have split hooves and chew the cud. However, some later authorities added a requirement that there must also be a mesorah with mammals. The problem is that in today’s industrialized age, the only things that people eat are factory-farmed chickens and cows. The mesorah for other species is dying out along with the remnant of Jews from Europe and other communities. And once the tradition is gone, it is lost until Mashiach comes. A practical ramification of this would be, for example, that if mad cow disease were ever to render the entire bovine population inedible, substitutes would be lacking.

In an effort to keep the mesorah for other species going, my chavrusa, Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky, and Dr. Ari Greenspan, longtime friends and shochtim, arranged a ?halachic dinner.? During this dinner, all kinds of
unusual species were served, along with lectures explaining why they are kosher, and a 150-page book of source material for each participant. The dinner thereby publicized and maintained the mesorah for these creatures. As preparation for this, the two Aris had spent twenty years interviewing
elderly shochtim and asking them which species they remember slaughtering in Europe, Africa, and Yemen.

Another person involved with arrangements for the evening was Dr. Zohar Amar, whose particular specialty is locusts. The Torah states that certain locusts are kosher and may be eaten. The Torah and Talmud even give signs by which these may be recognized. Again, however, according to most views, a mesorah is required. Such a tradition still exists in some Yemenite and Moroccan communities, and Dr. Amar was working to ensure that it wouldn’t die out.

Amongst the guests at the dinner were several scholars who specialize in the topic of identifying animals in the Torah, including Rabbi Dr. Yisroel Meir Levinger of Basel, Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler, Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport, Professor Mordechai Kislev, and Professor Yehudah Feliks, the pioneer of this field of study. A government minister, Rabbi Yitzchak Levi, was also present; his cooperation had been invaluable in securing permission to slaughter some of the species. The dinner was held at the Eucalyptus restaurant in Jerusalem’s Safra Square. The world famous chef at this restaurant, Moshe Basson, specializes in cooking with Biblical herbs and other ingredients, so this dinner was right up his alley.

The restaurant looked like any other restaurant set up for eighty or so diners, with one exception. Prominently displayed was an exhibit of many of the creatures that would be eaten. Hooves and horns of various mammals were on show. A live duck, a guinea fowl and two quails clucked in their cages. Locusts in varying stages of development swarmed around their vivarium. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet the meat.

First, for hors d’ouvres, dove and pigeon soup was served, along with a halachic intrigue: fleishige eggs. Although eggs are usually parve, these were incompletely-formed eggs that had been removed from a dead chicken, and therefore possessed the status of meat.

Next was turkey on rosemary skewers, in zatar sauce. Turkey doesn’t sound like an exotic dish, but its halachic status is actually extremely complicated. There clearly cannot be a mesorah for a bird that was only discovered after Columbus! The difficult solutions to this problem were
explored by Rabbi Dr. Zivotofsky.

A fig, stuffed with chicken, was halachically innocent, if culturally exotic. But this launched a series of bird courses. First was the ?duck pond? ? a delicious plate of goose, duck, muscovy duck, and mulard (a hybrid of muscovy duck and pekin duck). The unusual muscovy duck had formerly been prohibited by such authorities as Rabbi Samson Raphael
Hirsch, due to the lack of a mesorah. However, the subsequent discovery that it could hybridize with regular ducks proved that for halachic purposes, it was one and the same type.

The next course was pheasant and partridge. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein had prohibited the eating of pheasant, even though he was convinced of its kosher status, due to the lack of mesorah. But in 1981, the two Aris discovered that Rabbi Yosef Kapach, the late Yemenite Torah authority,
had a mesorah on pheasants. On the eve of the Lebanon war, the two Aris traveled to a kibbutz in the north of Israel to obtain a pair of pheasants. They brought these to Rav Kapach for identification and slaughter, and thereby kept the mesorah going.

Following this came quail and guinea fowl, on a bed of roasted wheat kernels. Several guests started singing Lehisaneg besa’anugim, barburim u’slav ve’dagim, the Shabbos song that speaks of rejoicing with the culinary delights of fattened birds and quail. It had been difficult to track down a mesorah for the guinea fowl; and in the process of interviewing an octogenarian shochet in Har Nof, one of the two birds had escaped. Finally, Dr. Zivotofsky tracked down an Algerian in Netanya and a Yemenite in Bnei Brak who possessed a mesorah.

With the conclusion of the bird dishes, it was time to move on to mammals. The first dish was made from a regular cow. However, it was not a side of beef, nor a T-bone steak, and not even tongue. Rather, it was cubed cow’s udders. I had a hard time keeping it down.

The seventh course was water buffalo and American bison (popularly but inaccurately also called buffalo), served as delectable dumplings in okra sauce. Water buffalo had already been explicitly identified as kosher by no less than the Shulchan Aruch itself. Dr. Greenspan showed a video of how he had brought the young buffalo from its ranch the previous day in the back of his car, which would never be the same again. The American bison, like the turkey, lacks a mesorah, but its ability to hybridize
with domestic cattle (to produce ?beefalo?) renders it kosher according to all opinions. This was followed by lamb, served along with the spices that were used to prepare the incense for the Temple.

The chef brought in the spectacular next course himself. It was a deer, brought in on a huge platter, whole, with only its head removed, and stuffed with rice and raisins. A deer is also a kosher animal; its halachic status as wild rather than domesticated animal means that its fat may also be eaten, but its blood must be covered by earth immediately after the slaughter.

Then, after a lengthy presentation by Dr. Amar, the highlight was served: grilled locusts. These were desert locusts, obtained from a laboratory and taken the previous day to recent Yemenite immigrants for identification and cooking. As the Talmud proscribes, they had four wings that covered most of their body, jumping legs and four other legs. Most importantly, the Yemenites had maintained a tradition that these were the kosher locusts specified in the Torah. A further indication was that they possessed the sign of the Hebrew letter chet on their chests, which is nature’s equivalent of an O.U. logo. Although some authorities had raised questions on the legitimacy of the Yemenite mesorah, it appeared that the responses to these difficulties were more than adequate. And so, in accordance with the ruling of many authorities, it was permitted for us (even those of us who were not of Yemenite origin) to eat these locusts.I must admit that eating a locust was not an experience that I would hasten to repeat. They were served whole, neatly arranged on a plate.

According to the instructions, I removed the locust’s wings and legs, and unscrewed its head. Then, with my face screwed up in repulsion, I ate it. Like many candies, it was crunchy on the outside with a chewy center. But all that I could think at the time was, Yeuuuuchhh, I’m eating a bug!!! essert was ?milk and honey? ? almond milk with date and bee honey. This was followed by esrog liqueur. The meal had involved twelve courses and, with its lectures before each course, had lasted nearly six hours. We had ensured the perpetuation of the mesorah by putting this food down. just prayed that I would be able to keep it down.

Rabbi Nosson Slifkin is the director of Zoo Torah, an educational enterprise that offers a series of books, programs for both adults and children, zoo tours, and African safaris, all on the theme of Judaism and the animal kingdom. For more details and a taste of the experience, see www.zootorah.com.

Reminding us that Jabbett isn’t the only religiously observant male who can wield a colander, Reuven checks in with a hearty vegetable lasagna.

The last time the Pats were in the Super Bowl, New Orleans hosted the battle and “Jambalaya!” was the rallying call in New England. In that spirit, I created a kosher-friendly version of the creole masterpiece, which traditionally features such sacrelicious ingredients as prawns/shrimp and pork sausage.

“Jew-balaya” omits the shellfish, and replaces pork sausage with spicy beef sausage. Before you commit to a particular brand of sausage, do some sampling and find the one with the best taste and texture. In a pinch, you can substitute jumbo hot dogs and chopped Smart Bacon for the sausage.

The recipe below is a little vague in some places; just go with the flow and develop your own habits.

JEW-BALAYA

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 lb. diced, boneless chicken breasts
3 polish beef sausages/kielbasa, cut on the bias
1 large onion, chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Small can tomato paste
Large can diced tomatoes
3-4 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 bay leaves
2 cups white long-grain rice

In a big, heavy pot (think cast-iron), brown diced chicken in oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Remove and reserve. Add sausage to pan; brown shortly, remove from pan and reserve with chicken.

In same pan, saute onions and garlic. When onions are translucent, add tomato paste and cook until paste gets a darker, burgundy color. Stir in chopped tomatoes and half of chicken stock. Return chicken and sausage to pan.

Cook until thick and bubbly.

Add all remaining seasonings and rest of stock. Stir in uncooked rice.

Now, don’t stir anymore. Let it cook several minutes and then “turn”: bring the sunken rice back up to the top to redistribute the ingredients. Since we’re using a heavy pot, it shouldn’t burn. “Turn” two or three more times, and cook with rice a total of 20-30 minutes until liquid is absorbed and rice is palatable.

Serve with salad and french bread. Add some Tabasco for a little kick.

Houston’s culinary crises du jour, restaurants surreptitiously passing off pork as veal, gets Protocoled.

In assessing Houston Rabbi Brenner Glickman’s statement that “I do not personally keep a strict kosher diet, [but] like many Jews, I like to eat out in restaurants, but I abstain from ordering dishes with pork or bacon or shellfish. So this issue is very relevant to me. Substituting pork for veal is reprehensible. It means that Jews who eat in these restaurants who are trying to observe their religion are being deceived into violating the Torah. It’s repulsive,” Protocol’s Steven I. Weiss opines:

This is a bit ridiculous, kind of like how when vegetarians were suing McDonalds for using a beef-derived flavoring on their French fries, everyone was joking about when a Jewish group would sign on to the suit. You have to be very reconstructionist to completely ignore all the kosher laws that would make a piece of veal at a run-of-the-mill restaurant treyf [non-kosher] and then still reach for an idea that pig is outlawed d’oraysa [under Biblical law, in this case Lev. 11:7].

There’s a palpable distinction in Jewish law between sins committed be’meizid, intentionally (Brenner: “Gimme the pork chop special”, Waiter: “Sure”), and be’shogeg,unintentionally (Brenner: “Actually, make that a veal tenderloin”, Waiter: “Riiight”). Weiss is correct in noting that veal, a cut of meat which can be kosher if slaughtered and prepared correctly, is treyf if prepared in a non-kosher eatery. But that’s no reason to take beef (sorry, I couldn’t resist) against a Jew who opts for treyf veal instead of pork. Better treyf veal than being oiver, in violation, the additional prohibition of eating a pig. When someone tries to keep one mitzvah you shouldn’t go off on him for not keeping another.

Two weeks ago our pizza stone fell off its shelf and broke into several pieces.

Rather than spend $30 for a new stone, I found a cheaper approach: unglazed quarry tiles, available at my local Home Depot. I only needed 6 6″x6″ tiles for my oven — a grand total of $2.35.

Last night, they worked like a charm. See them in action.

A pizza stone, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, is a large ceramic square or round which one preheats in an oven to simulate a traditional pizza cooking environment. By providing instant direct heat beneath your pizza, it cooks faster and gets a crispier crust. An absolute must for good homemade pizza. Put your stone/tiles in a 500-degree oven for 30 minutes to an hour before you cook your pizza. Unless you’re making deep-dish, put the raw pizza directly on the tiles.

I began the process of evaluating these cheesew with some excitement, and ended with mild disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the cheeses (properly served at room temperature)were tasty — but I found little if any difference between them.

Both the mini cheese wheels (about 4″ diameter) had a thin, white, nutty-smelling rind, as was expected, and a soft, creamy interior, which, at room temperature, spread handily on my favorite crackers.

Neither had a particularly profound flavor. Understandably, camembert is normally quite mild, but the brie should have been more pronounced. In this case, side by side, you’d be hard pressed to distinguish one from the other.

However, this might not be the fault of Anderson International Foods (maker of Les Petites Fermieres cheese). According to Janet Fletcher of the San Francisco Chronicle, true French camembert is made with raw (unpasteurized) milk and aged only three weeks — an illegal act in the U.S., which requires a minimum of 60 days ripening for raw-milk cheeses. So, for that reason, American camemberts may never attain the true taste level of their French counterparts.

However, there should be some identifiable taste difference given that Brie and Camembert are properly made with unique combinations of enzymes: camembert with Penicillium camemberti; brie with P. camemberti, Brevibacterium linens, and others. Perhaps there are kashrut concerns with the extra brie bacteria, limiting a kosher cheesemaker’s latitiude.

Taste aside, it would be nice if these cheeses were available in larger wheels, especially for entertaining.

Once again the Jewish Journal delivers with an interesting article on the kashrut of events thrown by Los Angeles-area Jewish organizations. The Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation, B’nai B’rith, and Hadassah all “endeavor” to make their events kosher, but they don’t limit themselves, especially when a coveted function facility will not allow “outside [kosher] food being brought in” or when kosher food “costs signficantly more than the kosher-style [alternative]”.

Having studied at non-sectarian Brandeis University, where kosher options were always available at school-sponsored events, maybe I got too comfortable with being “accomodated.” Granted, the double-wrapped airplane meals weren’t always culinary delights, but at least I didn’t have to sit at the Junior/Senior Formal conspicuously twirling my fork in a plate of cold salad greens.

What irks me is that Jews often get more respect for their dietary laws by non-Jews than by their coreligionists. For example, today, my company had its (belated) holiday party. At the company’s urging, we worked out a simple strategy to serve a kosher appetizer (lovely grilled vegetables), a kosher entree (delicious stuffed, rolled eggplant), and a kosher dessert (chocolate sheet cake) alongside the great-looking, but treyf food — without me and my wife secluded in a separate “kosher section” or forced to eat raw carrots for four hours.

Honestly, for all the lip service mainstream Jewish organizations give about pluralism, sensitivity, and outreach, it’s absurd that kashrut is even a point of contention — to truly be inclusive, serve kosher food, which everyone can eat. Having come from a Conservative background, I’m particularly sensitive to the stereotyping of non-Orthodox Jews — but now that I’m on the other side, I’m witness to plenty of latent (and unfounded) animosity towards the Orthodox lifestyle. Eating kosher food has been the normative Jewish behavior for the past 3,000 years, and now, somehow, expecting Kosher food at a Jewish function run by a Jewish organization is an extremist position!

Example: this week, my wife and I RSVPed for a social function being organized by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston’s Federation). We had never heard of the venue, so we felt compelled to inqure whether the hors d’oeurves would be kosher. Though unhappy that we had to ask, we were pleased with their reply: it’s CJP’s policy only to serve kosher food.

Unfortunately, our brethren in the Golden State don’t seem to have so many institutions with this “progressive” point of view.

This recipe comes from a recent issue of Gourmet Magazine, and fortunately requires no special footwork to make it pareve. To be honest, I haven’t tested it out yet (maybe for next Shabbos?) but the picture looked so good, and the acclaim so great, I thought I’d share it anyhow.

The added bonus: they’re low fat (3 cupcakes, 4 grams) aided by chopped dates to add moistness. Now, as a veteran of the Atkins Diet, I don’t buy into the low-fat nonsense, especially when the absence of fat is made up with an excess of sugar. However, these aren’t sugar-loaded, either — worth a shot.Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

Total prep/cooking time: 1 1/4 hour
12 cupcakes, serves four

1/3 cup water
1/3 cup pitted dates, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (Droste)
1 oz. fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 teaspoon confectioners sugar for dusting

Mini-muffin pan with 12 (1/8 cup) muffin cups, preferably non-stick

1. Preheat oven to 325-degrees Fahrenheit


2. Bring water and dates just to a boil in a 1-quart heavy saucepan, then transfer mixture to a food processor, add cocoa powder and chocolate, pulsing once to combine. Let cool 2 minutes, then add brown sugar, egg vanilla, baking soda, and a pinch of salt, then puree until smooth. Add flour and pulse just until incorporated.


3. Spray muffin cups with cooking spray. (If pan is nonstick, line sprayed bottoms with rounds of wax paper, then spray paper.) Spoon batter into cups, dividing it evenly, and bake in middle of oven until a wooden pick of skewer comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack (remove wax paper, if using) and cool completely, right-side-up. Just before serving, sprinkle tops lightly with confectioners sugar.

Cupcakes can be made and cooled (but not dusted with sugar) 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reports that the Kosher Overseers Associates of America (who use the Half-Moon-K heksher shown at right) are upgrading their 90-year-old standards to make its hashgacha more reliable.

According to director Chaim Hissiger, 80% of products bearing the Half-Moon-K are currently reliable — call the KOAOA at (323) 870-0011, and they’ll be happy to verify particular products.

A big story is brewing in the realm of Kosher French cheeses. We’re in the process of getting our facts straight and checking out some hashgachas … stay tuned.

The Jerusalem Post reports on the just-opened Kosher Culinary Academy in Jerusalem. I’ve thought about attending culinary school as my “next” life goal, but I’ve been hung-up by a concern I hear echoed in this article:

“I felt really uncomfortable,” admits [Academy student] Reicher. “It was a very long two years [at the Culinary Institute of America]. Training as a chef is a very sociable experience, and the social and cultural life revolves around food. In most culinary schools you get fed two or three times a day. I ate bowl after bowl of salad for two years - it was a very frustrating experience.”

Let’s hope the KCA survives as a viable alternative.

On FoodTV’s “Unwrapped” tonight, host Marc (Berkowitz) Summers visited the Spice Hunter factory, where they make over 150 different spices and seasoning blends, all of which bear OU hashgacha.

One such blend, Herbes de Provence (a mix of thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage and lavender), makes a great seasoning for a Shabbos chicken. A useful trick: crush some Herbes de Provence with a mortar and pestle or clean coffee grinder, then mix thoroughly with a stick of pareve margarine, salt, and white pepper; place herb margarine in a log shape on a piece of wax paper, and wrap the herb margarine like a giant piece of hard candy; freeze, then slice into medallions and slip under the skin of a chicken you intend to roast.

Spice Hunter products are available in several locations, or online.

Well, the Pats are AFC Champions — and that means we’ll be featuring some good Super Bowl recipes over the next several days. After having made several chilis from other peoples’ recipes, I decided to give it a shot from scratch on my own. Though this is only a “first draft,” I’m quite pleased with the result.

Some notes: Chili purists will likely criticize me for not using beef chunks; I’ll try it next time, but for now ground beef is my preference. Though slightly unusual ingredients, the dark chocolate and rice vinegar really brought the chili together in a magnificent way — the chocolate gives it a deep, silky flavor and the vinegar freshens things up a bit. The dry four-chile blend I use was made possible by Chef Paul Prudhomme’s ground, dried Magic Chiles (Star-K hashgacha). You may alternatively use 1 teaspoon of the “chile powder” of your choice. I gleaned the technique of “browning” the tomato paste from my kosherized Jambalaya recipe, which I’ll share soon — it gives the tomato a darker color, and caramelizes the natural sugars for a more complex flavor.

Read the rest of this entry »

A friend, secluded in the non-kosher recesses of Dayton, Ohio, sent me a question regarding the kashrut of beer. Luckily, the overall answer is a blessing to beer drinkers. From the Star-K’s newsletter Kosher Kurrents:

How should the Kosher beer enthusiast conduct himself? Of course, the best case scenario is to purchase beer with Kosher certification. However, our research has shown that all the raw ingredients and additives used in Domestic beers, Norweigian beers, and German beers do not present Kashrus concerns. English beers are permitted; stouts require certification. Halacha gives us the latitude to follow such a presumption. In circumstances where facts or evidence overwhelmingly prove that there are no Kashrus concerns, the Torah tells us to follow the dictates of the evidence. However, specialty beers such as flavored beers, barley wines, European, Asian, and other foreign beers would require Kosher certification due to insufficient information regarding these products.

The Chicago Rabbinical Council provides a complete list of acceptable alcohols, as does Star-K. As usual, whenever you’re uncertain, ask your rabbi. And have you ever noticed that the man in the Sam Adams logo is actually Paul Revere and not Sam Adams?

I’ve decided that the problem with my local kosher market isn’t that they don’t have the products I want — they just don’t organize their store well. Products are stuffed in every visible inch of wall/shelf space, with no attention to aesthetics. The cheese section is no exception — it’s loaded with products of all varieties and origins with no logical organization strategy. So, even though they have nice Italian, Danish, and Israeli varieties, it all looks like a crappy hodge-podge, where the Miller’s Cheddar “Stick” is indistinguishable from the finer alternatives.

Regardless, I dug around the dark recesses of the dairy case, and found Kirkeby Danablu, a Cholov Yisroel Danish blue cheese, cut and wrapped as a convenient wedge (see photo). I sampled it in very small pieces, cold, on its own and on a cracker. It has a bold, salty flavor that makes it a perfect accompaniment to sweet foods (typical recipes pair it with pears, apples, nuts, and dessert wines).

To spice up an old side dish, the Wisconsin Dairy Board suggests tossing hot green beans with crumbled blue cheese and slivered almonds. They also offer extensive details on the characteristics and uses of blue cheese.

(If you can’t find it locally, it’s sold online, too.)

From the City Living Dept.:
This summer, after having gotten married and moved to the big city from the quaint suburbs, I wallowed in my utter inability to grill. It’s both incredibly easy and incredibly delicious to come home after a hard day of work, throw a thick steak and some veggies on the grill, and in 10 minutes have a great dinner. But in a third-floor apartment there’s no place for a grill! Or is there?

Enter the “Alfredo Healthy Grill” by Delonghi, which I spotted in Gourmet magazine’s review of indoor grilling options. It makes urban grilling a snap, and it’s leaps and bounds above the lean, mean alternative in both the cooking and cleaning categories. It even features a special attachment which infuses your food with extra flavor.

One downside: because this grill doesn’t have a lid (unlike all outdoor grills), it can be difficult to grill especially thick items, or bulky shish-kebabs. As such, it might be a good idea to try this model, which includes a lid.

This Shabbos, as a foray into Asian cuisine, I’ll be trying a delightful grilled chicken satay recipe (grilling ‘em tonight, and serving them cold for lunch with room-temperature peanut sauce).

It’s official: Boston just experienced its coldest January 14 in recorded history, with a balmy high of 7 degrees Fahrenheit. When my wife finally got home from school today, I whipped up this surprisingly tasty and satisfyingly warm beverage for the two of us, which I’ll call “hot mocha.”

It contains a “secret” ingredient that may be unfamiliar to those of you outside New England: coffee syrup. Coffee syrup, like chocolate syrup, is a thick, sweet beverage additive sold in bottles, and most commonly mixed with milk, to make “coffee milk.” The State of Rhode Island, in fact, designated coffee milk its official beverage. My father, having spent his early years in Newport, was imbued with a taste for this culinary peculiarity (as well as that of seasoning french fries with vinegar rather than ketchup), and it was passed on to me.

There are three common brands in these parts: Autocrat, Coffeetime, and Eclipse. Though they’re all now made by the same company, Autocrat is by far the best, and is OU-certified.

So, get a hold of a bottle at your nearest New England supermarket (or call 1-800-AUTOCRAT) and try this quick recipe.

Prepare your favorite hot chocolate (from a mix or from scratch). If using a mix, add a little milk or cream for flavor enhancement. Add two tablespoons of coffee syrup and stir. Top with some quick, homemade whipped cream and enjoy.

I think Asia is the next region I will “claim in the name of kashrut.” I’ll be heading to my local bookstore soon to get some source material, but for now, this blog has some good articles on Japanese basics, including last week’s piece on teriyaki.

Believe it or not, if you search for treyf on Google, the Kosher Blog shows up on the first page of results.

Recently, my boss and I were discussing smoked trout, and he suggested a simple recipe — which I’ve evolved into the dish below after discovering Echo Falls smoked trout in my supermarket.

The dish provides some nice contrasts by partnering the light smokiness of the fish with the sweetness of the red pepper, and the smooth white sauce with the crisp sugar snap peas. It also serves as an example that, besides lox, smokey flavors aren’t solely in the realm of the non-kosher.

Note: Don’t bother roasting the red peppers yourself. There are plenty of jarred, roasted reds available in the supermarket which are delicious (and great for sandwiches, too). I buy the small jars (approx. two whole peppers) because, once openned, they don’t keep much longer than a week.Orechhiette with Smoked Trout

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

1 2-3 oz. smoked trout filet, flaked
12 ounces dry orecchiette
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups hot low-fat milk
1 roasted red pepper, julienne-sliced
1 cup sugar-snap peas, cut in thirds on the bias
kosher salt
white pepper
grated asiago cheese (or parmesan)

1. Boil orecchiette in plenty of salted water.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter or margarine and add flour, making a roux. Cook, stirring, until light brown.
3. Whisk in the hot milk.
4. Add sugar snap peas and red pepper strips.
5. Cook until sauce reaches desired thickness and peas are to your taste.
6. Stir in flaked trout.
7. Drain cooked orecchiette, leaving the pasta hot and moist, and toss with sauce. Season with kosher salt and white pepper to taste. Serve with plenty of freshly grated asiago.